Elder Lawler is on his way home! He'll be back this Friday and his Homecoming will be this Sunday at 11am at the Hillside Ward.
676 Eagle View Dr.
Alpine, UT
Come and support the returning missionary or sent him a nice note!
Monday, August 2, 2010
Back in the USA
Elder Lawler is on his way home! He'll be back this Friday and his Homecoming will be this Sunday at 11am at the Hillside Ward.
676 Eagle View Dr.
Alpine, UT
Come and support the returning missionary or sent him a nice note!
last letter!
Dearst Family,
This will be my last email. If I were a crying person I'm sure there would be tears running down my face as I type this email and reflect upon the last two years of emails sent to you all... It has been a journey, adventure, thrill, and it will echo in eternity! I have forever changed, I will forever never be the same. The change, joy, blessing cannot be recorded in word, no word can describe what has occurred. It is something that we have all felt. It is something that not everyone gets to feel, for many are called, but FEW are chosen. Those chosen experience what real joy is, and pay the price of salvation. Nothing has come free, or without trial. It is because of that, that everything has been so so sweet. If you were to ask me what it has felt like these last two years i would refer you to what Lehi said when asked how the fruit of the tree of life tasted... It was white beyond all whiteness, sweet above all other sweetness, after eating you will never hunger or thirst again. If one would partake of it he would be filled with joy beyond measure. I have tasted the fruit, I have partaken of God's love. It is sweet, delicious to the taste, and it does make one happy, and I will never hunger or thirst again. It's simple, I have tasted and partaken of the fruit of the tree of life. I have experienced God's love!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How simple and amazing! Do you know what it tastes like?? Can you feel it now? Or do you still hunger and thirst?
There is so much i have to tell you all! So much i want to share! But i just can't imagine it, it's too perfect. It's only been but a dream to be re-united with my family. I see it in my mind but i just can't accept the fact that it's over. The wall. The wall of end. Two years are up, I have walked(ran)the distance, the finish line\wall is right in front of me, but I'm still running, I'm still foiTg as if i could break right through the wall. It hasn't hit me, i don't get it. i don't feel sad yet, i don't feel excited to go home yet, i just feel like continuing what i do best, work! Don't get me wrong I love Japan and the thought of being gone is terribly sad but i can't taste it yet... my mouth is still full of the fruit of my harvest. What a harvest it has been!!! oh what a harvest! The field was so ripe, waiting. I didn't know how to use my sickle at first, but now i have mastered the art of harvesting. It was so with my last week of reporting. I DID IT! I set the records! I did my very very best! 8 investigators attended church!(4 more were supposed to come but didn't show) That's a mission best! I taught 30 lessons! A personal record, we found 7 new investigators during the craziness of teaching, half of our lessons were with members present, we have over 30 investigators that we teach every week. It was the icing on the cake. Satisfaction. i didn't know if it could all be done, but it happened. i boast not of my own strength for if it were by my own strength i could have only done but half of that. We had the Lord's strength and by his strength we saw the miracles.
Now for the last part, how will it end? It's the ending that would go in a book, the beautiful massacre. On Wednesday, my last full day of proselyting we are not teaching any of our investigators. We are not eating with any investigators. We are leaving the apartment at 10 am and We won't come back till 9 am. We are going to contact 200 people in one day. Yes I said it, and I plan on doing it. 200 in a day. We are doing a sweep of the city... from one end to the other, running, sprinting, cruising on our bikes and feet. I feel like I'm in the movie Gone in Sixty Seconds, of the perfect storm. I'm going down, as the captain of the ship, I'm going to pull the impossible, I'm going to hit that wall really hard.
Much love,
Elder Daniel Henry Lawler
This will be my last email. If I were a crying person I'm sure there would be tears running down my face as I type this email and reflect upon the last two years of emails sent to you all... It has been a journey, adventure, thrill, and it will echo in eternity! I have forever changed, I will forever never be the same. The change, joy, blessing cannot be recorded in word, no word can describe what has occurred. It is something that we have all felt. It is something that not everyone gets to feel, for many are called, but FEW are chosen. Those chosen experience what real joy is, and pay the price of salvation. Nothing has come free, or without trial. It is because of that, that everything has been so so sweet. If you were to ask me what it has felt like these last two years i would refer you to what Lehi said when asked how the fruit of the tree of life tasted... It was white beyond all whiteness, sweet above all other sweetness, after eating you will never hunger or thirst again. If one would partake of it he would be filled with joy beyond measure. I have tasted the fruit, I have partaken of God's love. It is sweet, delicious to the taste, and it does make one happy, and I will never hunger or thirst again. It's simple, I have tasted and partaken of the fruit of the tree of life. I have experienced God's love!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How simple and amazing! Do you know what it tastes like?? Can you feel it now? Or do you still hunger and thirst?
There is so much i have to tell you all! So much i want to share! But i just can't imagine it, it's too perfect. It's only been but a dream to be re-united with my family. I see it in my mind but i just can't accept the fact that it's over. The wall. The wall of end. Two years are up, I have walked(ran)the distance, the finish line\wall is right in front of me, but I'm still running, I'm still foiTg as if i could break right through the wall. It hasn't hit me, i don't get it. i don't feel sad yet, i don't feel excited to go home yet, i just feel like continuing what i do best, work! Don't get me wrong I love Japan and the thought of being gone is terribly sad but i can't taste it yet... my mouth is still full of the fruit of my harvest. What a harvest it has been!!! oh what a harvest! The field was so ripe, waiting. I didn't know how to use my sickle at first, but now i have mastered the art of harvesting. It was so with my last week of reporting. I DID IT! I set the records! I did my very very best! 8 investigators attended church!(4 more were supposed to come but didn't show) That's a mission best! I taught 30 lessons! A personal record, we found 7 new investigators during the craziness of teaching, half of our lessons were with members present, we have over 30 investigators that we teach every week. It was the icing on the cake. Satisfaction. i didn't know if it could all be done, but it happened. i boast not of my own strength for if it were by my own strength i could have only done but half of that. We had the Lord's strength and by his strength we saw the miracles.
Now for the last part, how will it end? It's the ending that would go in a book, the beautiful massacre. On Wednesday, my last full day of proselyting we are not teaching any of our investigators. We are not eating with any investigators. We are leaving the apartment at 10 am and We won't come back till 9 am. We are going to contact 200 people in one day. Yes I said it, and I plan on doing it. 200 in a day. We are doing a sweep of the city... from one end to the other, running, sprinting, cruising on our bikes and feet. I feel like I'm in the movie Gone in Sixty Seconds, of the perfect storm. I'm going down, as the captain of the ship, I'm going to pull the impossible, I'm going to hit that wall really hard.
Much love,
Elder Daniel Henry Lawler
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Friday, April 2, 2010
4 Minute Missionary concept
Alright so transfers are official! and i am now part of a three some! Elder Senba and i are now together for our third transfer in a row(EXTREMELY rare) and the third addition is Japanese(im now on transfer 5 in a row of Japanese companions, a total of 8 of my 13 transfers in my mission) his name is Elder Tashiro! he is absolutely amazing!!! extremely talented, aggressive, spiritual and great leadership skills. he is the ideal leader. we are very excited to add him to our companionship. As president Daniels said, i have the three best missionaries in the mission as companions, i will expect many miracles. You are to not spend time together at the mission home. You are to go on splits with every single companionship in the hole mission. So tee it up boys!
Thats just what we plan on doing. We made a exchange schedule the other day and literally everyday this transfer we are on splits. so there is going to be a lot of travel! I couldnt be more excited. recently going on splits has been so so so much fun. Its always interesting to see how missionaries respond when you start running door to door, person to person. After every exchange we get feedback from the missionaries and they all say i never knew missionary work was this much fun(its not like we did anything fun, we just ran everywhere and never waisted a second) im not going to lie it is very tireing but the lord is absolutely helping me big time! because when i wake up in the morning i am just fine. Sunday this weekend in particular was way hard. Friday a six hour drive to kushiro(i drove the hole way) got out had zone conference, after that was a fireside that we ran. The next day was all day proselyting in kushiro!!!! it was so good. i have never had to ride my bike so fast, we just went from one spot to the other, and contacted as many old investigators as i could remember. there were many people who definitely were in need of my visit, and we helped a lot of people. one of the most surprising things this week was i had to baptisms. I was not there for the service but two people i found, one in otaru the other in kushiro this sunday got baptized!!!! i was the first person to contact them, i picked them up to hear the lessons but never got to teach them. and this week they got baptized. all day working in kushiro that night we had a three hour drive to kitami(once again i drove the hole way) after church on sunday we went out again for a full day of work in kitami. then at 6 we drove back( another 6 hour car ride that i drove the hole way) that got us in at 11:40. the next morning we woke up at 6 for basketball in the morning!! and that brings us to this week!
So lets get to the title of this email and explain what it means. so today the three of us(me and my companions) talked a little bit about needs of the mission and how we could help the mission. we decided the mission is obedient enough, they are diligent enough, however the faith is low. so thats what we started talking about, that led into talk about numbers. we were talking of friends that were in various parts of the world and the different success that people were seeing around the world. we started talking about how some people are having 20-30 lessons a week, baptisms all the time, and lots of new investigators, all of that stuff. we started to think why cant we do it here? thats when the story of the 4 minute mile came to my head. For hundreds of years, forever i guess it was said to be impossible to run a mile in under 4 minutes. It could not be done, it was said to be impossible. Despite that there was one person who decided he would run the mile in under 4 minutes. Thats just what he did. To everyones great surprise not only was the 4 minute mile not impossible but it became very possible and soon after many others were able to run the mile in under 4 minutes. Now a sub 4 minute mile became very possible. its now the standard.
Thats what this mission needs, a sub 4 minute mile missionary. someone to show the other it is possible, that their are no limits to what can be accomplished as servants of the lord. We will become the 4 minute mile missionaries. we have literally no time in our own area to find, teach and baptize, however we are sub 4 minute missionaries, we are going to break every record! we are not doing it for the numbers, or the glory. we are doing it to raise the faith, we are going to show everyone you can do it, we are going to lift every single one of the missionaries up!
I have just been thinking about it so much ever since, i want to be a sub 4 minute person! Many great things are just waiting in store, it only takes one person to do it. we have dedicated ourselves to be the runner!
I challenge everyone to be the sub 4 minute mile person!!!!!!! That is real faith.
Love you all so very much, keep in touch
elder Lawler
Monday, February 15, 2010
February 09, 2010
This week we had a couple of really cool experiences...
1. was when we went on splits to a place in sapporo called moiwa. I got to go on splits with elder williams, the big tongan elder i was Zone Leader with in atsubetsu. it was way fun to catch up and to work together. We were at an apartment complex and not a lot was going on no one coming to doors not a lot of interest. so we decided to head to the church early. we were on our way and when we got close to the church we saw a kid walking towards us.. i looked at him and said to elder williams that guy is going to be golden. we stoped him and i just felt like i should ask him for 20 minutes and go talk in the church. so i did and he said yea sure, is it the white church just over there? so we went over and sat down in the church and started to teach him, elder williams decided to watch this one church introduction video we have but i was kind of skeptikal about using because japanese people dont really like it. but i decided to just go with it and trust in elder williams. we watched the short 5 minute video and at the end asked senda about it.. he took a pause and said i think about the stuff in that video all the time! i think that stuff is really important and i have a lot of interest in that.. we than taught him and decided to invite him to be baptized. he said yes, but can i get baptized quicker than that!!! he taught a month was a little too long to wait!! we than took him that night to a musical concert at a ward and he loved it!! it was amazing to see how we were sent to him right than. i have been noticing that we are in the right place at the right time A LOT!! looking back trying to figure out why now and not before i came to the conclusion that i proved myself. I talk to everyone, i dont let anyone go by and when i talk i try very hard to teach. the Lord can rely on me because if i am any where close to them i will contact them and teach a lesson on the spot. the people we have found through it are amazing!!!!
2. transfers. so with transfers coming this next week we had a meeting to decide where everyone goes and who with. it was pretty cool i had never done it before but at the end president daniels said, well i have never had it go that smooth before. it was incredible. so we use a computer and put up a map of the mission with all the missionaries in the mission in their areas. than we move the pictures of the missionaries to the top of the screen and put them in their new areas with their new companions. i would compare it to a big puzzel. all the pieces were scattered and then they all came togther at once and pretty fast too. within 20 minutes just about all of the transfer stuff was done. it was cool for one of them. i looked at the area and said to myself this elder should go there. i didnt know if it was my place to shout that out, so i waited. then before i knew it president said im thinking this elder should go there. it was the exact one i was thinking! that happend about 2 or 3 times. than the puzzel was complete it was beautiful.
I feel like i can really tell the difference between promptings now. its like i know the voice/feeling. i love it. makes everything really easy.
SO i got big news if you have not already looked on line... I GOT ACCEPTED TO BYU HAWAII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i couldnt believe it!!!!!!!!!!! im so excited!!!
So whats new with the family?? getting ready for the baby stuff? did jamey ever get back from china??
the mission is going crazy right now, everything has like doubled we average as a mission around 10 baptisms a month and we are scheduled to have upwards of 25 in febuary!! President daniels said the spirituality of this mission has taken a 180. usually in the weekly pres. letters people write about funny stories or personal study stuff but recently its all been about miracles and working through the spirit.
OH i forgot!!!!! we have been having some way cool experiences with visiting members recently!!! its been way good.
I felt like we should focus on the balance of member and missionary work and that we can do that through effective member visits. so i made this plan and it has been way good.
1. BRT(build relationship trust) dont talk about stupid stuff like your girlfriend or car. you tell them who you were before your mission and why you gave it all up to come out and serve(pretty much your testimony) talk about the sacrifices you made.
2.message i go with alma 29:9-almas real joy was missionary work. talk about who alma was all the thing he did(cheif judge, father, ect.)but in all that it was missionary work that was the best. talk about how i am the same, use to have fun and be happy but thats way different from my joy now. than read verse 14 his joy was not in his success alone but in his brothers. tie in is that this is what happens with members when they get involved, team up in lessons befriend someone, referrals ect.
3.Referral. i dont just ask for a referral all blunt i do a special way i thought of. so here it is(feel free to participate as though you were the member) close your eyes. think of someone, a friend or family, they are not a member. picture what they look like, face, body, ect. now imagine them with you talking to the missionaries. they have a book of mormon. they read and pray. they are excited to learn. they feel joy. you testify of truth and feel the spirit. now its sunday, its sacarament meeting. look to the seat next to you.. its your friend. now your friend is dressed in all white. its their baptism. they enter the water. its now a year later, you are in the most holy place on earth you look to the seat next to you. your friend is there recieving eternal endowments. open your eyes. what do you feel.(at this point most all the women are crying) ask about their feelings. than i go for the referral, but not a no name one. I get out a piece of paper, have them write the name. then write their hobbies. what they like who they are. now with that written what would be the best way to introduce them to the gospel.(they like basketball, have a b ball activity, cooking, english, ect.) you dont go for name just than. next is take a commitment. everyday from now till sunday will you pray for your friend, and ask to know how to introduce them to the gospel. on sunday we will together make a plan. Now go for the name. is it okay if we pray for your friend too?? (yes) what is their name.
4. Dont go empty handed. i bring a funny photo frame it(costs a dollar 50) than write your names on the frame and call if you ever need anything with your number at the bottom. they always see it remember you, anyone who goes in the house will see it and ask about you.
We have don that 3 times now and everytime it has been amazing!!!!!!! cant describe it, the spirit is strong the members are excited and the referrals come!!
i love this work and i never want to stop
love you all thanks for the prayers and support!!!!!!
Love elder Daniel Henry Lawler
1. was when we went on splits to a place in sapporo called moiwa. I got to go on splits with elder williams, the big tongan elder i was Zone Leader with in atsubetsu. it was way fun to catch up and to work together. We were at an apartment complex and not a lot was going on no one coming to doors not a lot of interest. so we decided to head to the church early. we were on our way and when we got close to the church we saw a kid walking towards us.. i looked at him and said to elder williams that guy is going to be golden. we stoped him and i just felt like i should ask him for 20 minutes and go talk in the church. so i did and he said yea sure, is it the white church just over there? so we went over and sat down in the church and started to teach him, elder williams decided to watch this one church introduction video we have but i was kind of skeptikal about using because japanese people dont really like it. but i decided to just go with it and trust in elder williams. we watched the short 5 minute video and at the end asked senda about it.. he took a pause and said i think about the stuff in that video all the time! i think that stuff is really important and i have a lot of interest in that.. we than taught him and decided to invite him to be baptized. he said yes, but can i get baptized quicker than that!!! he taught a month was a little too long to wait!! we than took him that night to a musical concert at a ward and he loved it!! it was amazing to see how we were sent to him right than. i have been noticing that we are in the right place at the right time A LOT!! looking back trying to figure out why now and not before i came to the conclusion that i proved myself. I talk to everyone, i dont let anyone go by and when i talk i try very hard to teach. the Lord can rely on me because if i am any where close to them i will contact them and teach a lesson on the spot. the people we have found through it are amazing!!!!
2. transfers. so with transfers coming this next week we had a meeting to decide where everyone goes and who with. it was pretty cool i had never done it before but at the end president daniels said, well i have never had it go that smooth before. it was incredible. so we use a computer and put up a map of the mission with all the missionaries in the mission in their areas. than we move the pictures of the missionaries to the top of the screen and put them in their new areas with their new companions. i would compare it to a big puzzel. all the pieces were scattered and then they all came togther at once and pretty fast too. within 20 minutes just about all of the transfer stuff was done. it was cool for one of them. i looked at the area and said to myself this elder should go there. i didnt know if it was my place to shout that out, so i waited. then before i knew it president said im thinking this elder should go there. it was the exact one i was thinking! that happend about 2 or 3 times. than the puzzel was complete it was beautiful.
I feel like i can really tell the difference between promptings now. its like i know the voice/feeling. i love it. makes everything really easy.
SO i got big news if you have not already looked on line... I GOT ACCEPTED TO BYU HAWAII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So whats new with the family?? getting ready for the baby stuff? did jamey ever get back from china??
the mission is going crazy right now, everything has like doubled we average as a mission around 10 baptisms a month and we are scheduled to have upwards of 25 in febuary!! President daniels said the spirituality of this mission has taken a 180. usually in the weekly pres. letters people write about funny stories or personal study stuff but recently its all been about miracles and working through the spirit.
OH i forgot!!!!! we have been having some way cool experiences with visiting members recently!!! its been way good.
I felt like we should focus on the balance of member and missionary work and that we can do that through effective member visits. so i made this plan and it has been way good.
1. BRT(build relationship trust) dont talk about stupid stuff like your girlfriend or car. you tell them who you were before your mission and why you gave it all up to come out and serve(pretty much your testimony) talk about the sacrifices you made.
2.message i go with alma 29:9-almas real joy was missionary work. talk about who alma was all the thing he did(cheif judge, father, ect.)but in all that it was missionary work that was the best. talk about how i am the same, use to have fun and be happy but thats way different from my joy now. than read verse 14 his joy was not in his success alone but in his brothers. tie in is that this is what happens with members when they get involved, team up in lessons befriend someone, referrals ect.
3.Referral. i dont just ask for a referral all blunt i do a special way i thought of. so here it is(feel free to participate as though you were the member) close your eyes. think of someone, a friend or family, they are not a member. picture what they look like, face, body, ect. now imagine them with you talking to the missionaries. they have a book of mormon. they read and pray. they are excited to learn. they feel joy. you testify of truth and feel the spirit. now its sunday, its sacarament meeting. look to the seat next to you.. its your friend. now your friend is dressed in all white. its their baptism. they enter the water. its now a year later, you are in the most holy place on earth you look to the seat next to you. your friend is there recieving eternal endowments. open your eyes. what do you feel.(at this point most all the women are crying) ask about their feelings. than i go for the referral, but not a no name one. I get out a piece of paper, have them write the name. then write their hobbies. what they like who they are. now with that written what would be the best way to introduce them to the gospel.(they like basketball, have a b ball activity, cooking, english, ect.) you dont go for name just than. next is take a commitment. everyday from now till sunday will you pray for your friend, and ask to know how to introduce them to the gospel. on sunday we will together make a plan. Now go for the name. is it okay if we pray for your friend too?? (yes) what is their name.
4. Dont go empty handed. i bring a funny photo frame it(costs a dollar 50) than write your names on the frame and call if you ever need anything with your number at the bottom. they always see it remember you, anyone who goes in the house will see it and ask about you.
We have don that 3 times now and everytime it has been amazing!!!!!!! cant describe it, the spirit is strong the members are excited and the referrals come!!
i love this work and i never want to stop
love you all thanks for the prayers and support!!!!!!
Love elder Daniel Henry Lawler
January 27, 2010
i am alive!! and back in the mission home...for another hour and then off to the next zone conference. These last two weeks have been amazing!!! i never thought i would be having these kind of experiences on my mission. its a lot more than the traveling from one side of the island to the other in less than 24 hours. its more than the car rides and dinners. Its about ministering like the savior did one by one. As an assistant you are being watched, weighed, measured and just about anything else you can imagine. Many people change, they become someone they are not. they lose personality, character and life. they try to become a machine, a robot. Someone that lives and breathes mission work, someone who knows every rule and calls out someone when they do anything wrong. But i decided a long time ago when i became i leader i would not turn into a robot!! And i haven’t. I love it. I’m the same person i always have been, one who knows when to play and when to work. and when i play i play hard! when i work i work even harder!!! I had an interesting conversation with pres. Daniels in the car the other day. he was talking about what the general authorities want mission presidents to do with their AP's. Elder Holland said "An AP should not be your chauffeur. if you were playing in a golf tournament would you pick tiger woods to be on your team and then make him the caddy? NO! you have him go first tee it up and say hey boys watch this, this is how it is supposed to be done!!! and then have him rip a 400 yard drive" President then turned to me and said even though you just got your license(yea thats right! i took my drivers test and got my license to drive in Japan!!! watch out!) your not going to drive me around much... your my tiger woods! Every time i go out on splits he says to me, get our their and show them how its done. well this week that’s exactly what we did.
Takikawa, its an area in the middle of no where and recently they have been sucking it up! their faith that they could find was just about gone.. they hadn’t taught a lesson in over two weeks, made almost no new appointments and were convinced that you couldnt find anyone out there. Elder senba and i felt like we should go out on splits, but looking at our schedule it seemed pretty tight. but we followed the impression. we didnt plan we just packed and got on the first train to takikawa(about 2 hours away) just before leaving we gave them a call and told them to pick us up at the train station and we are going on splits. i would like to say that i was calm and relaxed on the train but to tell you the truth i was a little nervous. Pres. told us just before we left that he expected to hear a good report. and then their zone leader called us thanking us for going out their and told us that he called them told them we were coming, and if we didnt find a ton of people that he would admit they were right and there was no one in takikawa. the pressure was one. both elder senba and i wasted no time and began to draw our hearts and prayer to the lord for strength and success. when we arrived they were very glad to see us. they were pretty down, but looked to us with hope. from the moment we woke till we left on the train i didnt stop working. During personal and language study instead of studying the gospel i studied the area book and looked for potential investigators, old investigators that could be contacted again and how to teach current investigators. when luch came around i took the junior companion and told him im going to train you to work while you eat, from here on you wont have free time anymore, are you okay with that, he hesitantly agreed. we got on the phone and started calling a list of over 100 names i put together. thats how we spent our breakfast, lunch and dinner. when we stepped out the door i knew we would see success. i felt that confirmation that morning during my personal prayer when i literally urged and begged the lord for success. In a normal week the average companionship will make 9 new appointments to teach a lesson to someone who is not an investigator, find 2 new investigators and teach 6 lessons. and make 1 baptismal date(if their lucky) in that day alone we made 17 appointments, taught 6 lessons, found 6 new investigators, and set 1 baptismal date. The power of God, and the presents of the Holy Ghost was felt by everyone that day. When we met up at the apartment we were all jumping with joy! all anyone could say was takikawa is amazing!!!!! The smiles and hope that they now had was unbelievable! we returned and reported to Pres. Daniels who was thrilled. he looked at us and said what you to did with those elders in takikawa just changed their missions. That will never be forgotten by them. You probably just changed their missions and lives forever. we got a call from them two days later telling us they made 4 appointments in one day, and the junior that i trained to make phone calls picked up 2 people during lunch. the best part is the senior companion that was struggling was my old companion elder hattori.
We have done 4 zone conferences so far and they have been going amazing, most people have either come up to me right after or called me the next day telling me it was the best AP workshop they had ever had. Our workshop was on making a covenant with the lord, and writing down your personal sacrifices that you, and also your companionship will give up to the lord in return for spiritual power, that will lead to an increase in baptisms. It was amazing, i told everyone about my experiences how we made a covenant so we could see a baptism but the whole transfer had nothing, and then 3 days before the transfer she said she wanted to get baptized, and ended up getting baptized the day before transfers. its been a very powerful zone conference. we have already seen a tremendous increase. lessons have doubled and inv. to church have doubled as well, and as a mission we have a record high 40 baptismal dates planned for jan. and feb! miracles!!!!!!!
I love you all thanks for the love and support
Love elder Daniel Henry Lawler
Takikawa, its an area in the middle of no where and recently they have been sucking it up! their faith that they could find was just about gone.. they hadn’t taught a lesson in over two weeks, made almost no new appointments and were convinced that you couldnt find anyone out there. Elder senba and i felt like we should go out on splits, but looking at our schedule it seemed pretty tight. but we followed the impression. we didnt plan we just packed and got on the first train to takikawa(about 2 hours away) just before leaving we gave them a call and told them to pick us up at the train station and we are going on splits. i would like to say that i was calm and relaxed on the train but to tell you the truth i was a little nervous. Pres. told us just before we left that he expected to hear a good report. and then their zone leader called us thanking us for going out their and told us that he called them told them we were coming, and if we didnt find a ton of people that he would admit they were right and there was no one in takikawa. the pressure was one. both elder senba and i wasted no time and began to draw our hearts and prayer to the lord for strength and success. when we arrived they were very glad to see us. they were pretty down, but looked to us with hope. from the moment we woke till we left on the train i didnt stop working. During personal and language study instead of studying the gospel i studied the area book and looked for potential investigators, old investigators that could be contacted again and how to teach current investigators. when luch came around i took the junior companion and told him im going to train you to work while you eat, from here on you wont have free time anymore, are you okay with that, he hesitantly agreed. we got on the phone and started calling a list of over 100 names i put together. thats how we spent our breakfast, lunch and dinner. when we stepped out the door i knew we would see success. i felt that confirmation that morning during my personal prayer when i literally urged and begged the lord for success. In a normal week the average companionship will make 9 new appointments to teach a lesson to someone who is not an investigator, find 2 new investigators and teach 6 lessons. and make 1 baptismal date(if their lucky) in that day alone we made 17 appointments, taught 6 lessons, found 6 new investigators, and set 1 baptismal date. The power of God, and the presents of the Holy Ghost was felt by everyone that day. When we met up at the apartment we were all jumping with joy! all anyone could say was takikawa is amazing!!!!! The smiles and hope that they now had was unbelievable! we returned and reported to Pres. Daniels who was thrilled. he looked at us and said what you to did with those elders in takikawa just changed their missions. That will never be forgotten by them. You probably just changed their missions and lives forever. we got a call from them two days later telling us they made 4 appointments in one day, and the junior that i trained to make phone calls picked up 2 people during lunch. the best part is the senior companion that was struggling was my old companion elder hattori.
We have done 4 zone conferences so far and they have been going amazing, most people have either come up to me right after or called me the next day telling me it was the best AP workshop they had ever had. Our workshop was on making a covenant with the lord, and writing down your personal sacrifices that you, and also your companionship will give up to the lord in return for spiritual power, that will lead to an increase in baptisms. It was amazing, i told everyone about my experiences how we made a covenant so we could see a baptism but the whole transfer had nothing, and then 3 days before the transfer she said she wanted to get baptized, and ended up getting baptized the day before transfers. its been a very powerful zone conference. we have already seen a tremendous increase. lessons have doubled and inv. to church have doubled as well, and as a mission we have a record high 40 baptismal dates planned for jan. and feb! miracles!!!!!!!
I love you all thanks for the love and support
Love elder Daniel Henry Lawler
Jan 13, 2010
So life goes on, at a very fast pace!!!! so im in the mission home.. its kind of wierd but very cool at the same time. so far we are in the cram stage as they would call it.. just before we go out and tour the whole mission and do zone conferences. right now we are preparing for the big zone leader council. than right after this week we go on tour. its kind of wierd. i never thought i would do this much computer work! holy crap! i mean i never saw in my call packet that i needed a phd in microsoft excel!!!!!!! thats probably so far 90% of what i have been doing! it didnt help that the previous two APs were computer programers! im going to try and talk to president and see if i can get some college credit for this! on the weekdays we are in the office till 6 and we go out from 6-9 and work.. my companion is awesome!! he is way good, we work really well together. its wierd because i have never been companions with someone who was at the same level as me.. i dont mean that to brag but when i was young i couldnt do much, and when i got better my companions got worse and worse. there was always a balance but now there is none! its amazing! my japanese is improving.. because everything is in japanese and its tough japanese. the things i really like so far are obviously working closely with president i have learned a lot and look forward to learning a lot more. i love being able to talk to any missionary i want!! and its a great opportunity to recognize individual efforts and motivate missionaries. one goal i have is to call every companionship and congradulate them on one good thing they did that week. im really excited for zone conference because we get to do a workshop and im going to get everyone to make a covenant like i did in atsubetsu twice. recently president has called everyone and asked them for their transfer baptismal goals. so we are going to get them to write what they will sacrifice and truley commite and then make a covenant with the lord and put him and their faith to the test. i hope it will make all the missionaries really take the leap and commite themselves to the lord. putting of the natural man, and when we do our part the lord is bound!!
so two new missionaries just came in from the mtc here. i got to train them, that was a lot of fun!! they are amazing!! they are way way strong missionaries!! we went out and got to go finding with them. that was special. they were so so excited, they had been waiting for months and months to be able to preach the gospel and they finnaly could do it. i had the privallege to be a part of it all. i got to go out with the elder who i went to efy with. he was so excited. when we talked to people he was litterally holding the book of mormon(at times almost pounding it as if he were at a polepett) in his simple japanese from the bottom of his heart just say, i know this book is true, i know you can become happy!!! it was way cool to be a part of. we taught several lessons and made several appointments.
sounds like everyone is having fun staying busy. i will do my best to get some stuff done on the essay!! but i really am busy. HAPPY B DAY to grandpa and BECCA i am writing letters and will send a little something to them(in due time....)
Love you all thanks for all the love and support
elder daniel henry lawler
so two new missionaries just came in from the mtc here. i got to train them, that was a lot of fun!! they are amazing!! they are way way strong missionaries!! we went out and got to go finding with them. that was special. they were so so excited, they had been waiting for months and months to be able to preach the gospel and they finnaly could do it. i had the privallege to be a part of it all. i got to go out with the elder who i went to efy with. he was so excited. when we talked to people he was litterally holding the book of mormon(at times almost pounding it as if he were at a polepett) in his simple japanese from the bottom of his heart just say, i know this book is true, i know you can become happy!!! it was way cool to be a part of. we taught several lessons and made several appointments.
sounds like everyone is having fun staying busy. i will do my best to get some stuff done on the essay!! but i really am busy. HAPPY B DAY to grandpa and BECCA i am writing letters and will send a little something to them(in due time....)
Love you all thanks for all the love and support
elder daniel henry lawler
Daniel got a big transfer!
Well transfers have come and gone now... so i will fill you in on that. well it all started on sunday when i went to church. as i went to church i could feel that it would be my last. its very easy to tell, how? everything clicks. the sunday when everyone knows your name, thanks you for everything, you have a real conversation because you know everything about them and know what they really have interest in. the kids come up to you tell you they want to be just like you, they ask you for candy because by this point they know you give candy to everyone and they are banking on you giving them some. the love you feel for the members is overflowing and you feel a great bond. then comes the TRANSFERS. so i kind of was expecting a transfer call but it never came. sunday night we went back to the apartment and waited to get the call in reports. elder nelson and elder shurtluff were running a little late. when they came back they opened the door came in but it was wierd because they had a wierd little smile on their face. i then looked to see someone else come through the door. President daniels and the aps! pres. smiled saying good evening how are ya? i must of had the most suprised look on my face!! i couldnt imagine what it was that they wanted, i figured someone must have spread a pretty nasty rumor about me!! then pres. said can i talk to you in your room? i very hesitantly said yes... we went in and said do you know why im here? i said not really.. he said im here to take you back to the mission home.. your going to be my new assitant!!!! all i could say is just wow im way excited! so then he said okay pack your stuff and lets get you to the mission home asap. i said okay and then kind of just went to resume the night and then he said no, we are taking you back right now, as in pack your stuff we leave in 20 minutes. WHAT??!! so i just threw all my stuff in a buch of bags and boxes and we left. just dropped everything and got in the car.
so now im in the mission home serving as the junior assistant!!!! i so so excited. its going to be a lot of work and a lot of pressure but i feel like i can really help a lot of the missionaries. there are some big changes that need to happen and im ready to play a big part in it!!!!! since i have got here there have been some things that were really suprising. one is that pretty much a lot of what we do is computer work. like all they use is excel and make a ton ton of phone calls. im really excited to be here... but im going to need everyones prayers so make sure and pray extra hard. my new companion is elder senba!! he has been the ap for 3 transfers and he was my zone leader for 3 so i know him really well. we are really busy, im way excited we get to go pick up the new missionaries and i went to efy with one of them 3 years ago!! so i cant wait to meet him, then we have the big transfer day were everyone comes in and goes to their new areas so im excited for that to but a little nervous because it all depends on us...
well love you all
talk to you next week
love elder lalwer
so now im in the mission home serving as the junior assistant!!!! i so so excited. its going to be a lot of work and a lot of pressure but i feel like i can really help a lot of the missionaries. there are some big changes that need to happen and im ready to play a big part in it!!!!! since i have got here there have been some things that were really suprising. one is that pretty much a lot of what we do is computer work. like all they use is excel and make a ton ton of phone calls. im really excited to be here... but im going to need everyones prayers so make sure and pray extra hard. my new companion is elder senba!! he has been the ap for 3 transfers and he was my zone leader for 3 so i know him really well. we are really busy, im way excited we get to go pick up the new missionaries and i went to efy with one of them 3 years ago!! so i cant wait to meet him, then we have the big transfer day were everyone comes in and goes to their new areas so im excited for that to but a little nervous because it all depends on us...
well love you all
talk to you next week
love elder lalwer
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
(picture is of downtown sapporo)
alright well a week of miracles has been completed!!! before i do any of the follow up stuff i just want to share with you what has happend this week... so i think i told you about what we were doing with the member work out here in atsubetsu. the no name referral program. (members can give missionaries anonymous referrals, they challenged the women of the ward to give names. lately dano has been doing a lot of work with members, promising baptisms to the bishop, visiting families in the ward and doing family home evenings). well sunday was the big day to see if it was a hit or if it bombed. i will be honest i was about 70 30 odds. we started the day with our ward missionary council meeting and one of the sisters gave us a sheet with 4 referrals on it! (for our mission if you had a good week you would maybe get 4 member referrals, we average as a mission per week around 50 new referrals from the 80 missionaries that are serving here) we were very pleased with the paper. then as we waited for members to come in and greeted them at the door. i held the paper in my hand keeping a prayer in my heart that maybe someone else too might have done what we asked them. i greeted a fairly happy sister at the door, today she seemed particularly happy, i asked her why and she said nothing but just reached down in her bag and pulled out the paper with her three friends' names on it who she would like to hear the gospel. i was almost shocked... i didnt think out of all the sisters that she would do it. i stood by the door with a big smile on my face and my hand clutching the precious referrals that we had just recieved. my other hand soon filled up with papers, sister after sister with a smile and glow in their countenance handed me hope, a prospect, the thought that just maybe that friend might let us in and partake of the joy the gospel brings. at the end of sunday we received 71 REFERRALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the shock still hits me.. i have never heard of anything like it, and neither did anyone else we told. there have been many prophecies about japan being one of the best missions in the world, and that in order for there to be success there must come a change, through the members, when their desire for their friends to hear the gospel increases and they start to reach out- then will the mighty change take place. well that all started on sunday. missionaries have gone from door to door knocking and havest here thus far has been weak. but now behold the field is white already to harvest and lo he that 'worketh through the members' shall have sheaves upon his back. its so exciting to see it all happening now!!
we had president daniels over to our apartment (we invited him over for his b-day dinner) on monday and he congratulated us on our marvelous success and has us tell him all about it. then yesterday at zone conference he has us tell all the other zones about it. the way he introduced it was very interesting. previous to doing the no name referrals, we had gotten the idea from something that someone recommended at the zone leader council two weeks ago, elder nelson and i decided to go for it and then a week later got the referrals. so president daniels said "something amazing has been going on in atsubetsu, they tried the no name referrals and they saw some success, i will let them introduce it but before that how many of you were in the zl council meeting??" several elders raised their hands. "did you all hear about the no name refferal thing, they all said yes. okay now what did you do about it?? think about that because after they tell you what they did i want to hear what you did." we shared our experiences and everyone was fairly shocked. then he got up and called on a couple elders, asked them, and the response was nothing. no one did anything. he then went a little off on the fact that, our problem is that we hear ideas but no one acts!! he then very animatedly said "come on, everyone needs to step up! act! follow the example of these great zone leaders and act!"
we then had our workshop and taught everyone what to do, told them it was a multi step process that needed to take place before it was infiltrated in the ward, then we told them all to act. in fact we challenged everyone to call the bishop that night and set up an appointment!!! we told them we would call to see if you did it. so we did and everyone did it!! i think that if we can spread this to other areas the work will really really take off here!!!!!!!
we are way way excited! and i can see the change taking place. we in fact got a call from a member who said i have a question about the no name referral thing, i know i wrote down some names and gave them to you but is it okay if i give you a family i want to hear the gospel?? YES!!! ITS OKAY! she then told us their information what they might have interset in and gave the address and told us we could even mention that she told us to visit them! AMAZING!! i think the miracles are going to continue to out poor, becasue we have only introduced this to the sister!! we havent even given it to the whole ward!!!
other than that things are great, the henmi kids are looking forward to getting baptized the 23rd and i am looking forward to baptizing them!!
well, hope you all have a wonderful christmas and i challange you all to give at least two names to the missionaries to visit, you can the them its a no name referral and not to use your name but if it comes up they can use it. but send them somewhere someone is likely to except the gospel, that is all of your responsibilities!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Dec 2
from nov 25th letter:
so the only thing that did happen with transfers is that elder williams got transfered out, he is now in downtown sapporo. and the new zone leader here is elder nelson!!!! my old trainer!! now we are going to serve together as zone leaders!!!!(but we have seperate prosolyting companions) im really excited!! its going to be a lot of fun and we are going to work really well together with the members!!!!!!!!!!! we hope to be seeing a lot of white this next transfer!!(and thats not just snow!)
from dec 2 letter:
well having elder nelson back around is very nice!! we are very focused and really plan on some big things this month. i have noticed some big changes recently and they came from the best source, god! i had a good talk with elder kashima i expressed i wanted to work harder, i wanted to do what i did with elder miller, i told him we needed to make a covenant with the lord so that we can see a baptism this month! he was not all the way there with me which was the slight disapointment but i think the reason he was a little off was because he had never done it before. but we did it and after that we got together as 4 (with the other 2 elders in the apartment) and decided what we all needed to do to turn this place around (atsubetsu averages 10 baptisms a year, this year they have 2). we got together, planned some great stuff, and then acted!!! we went and visited the bishop and then elder nelson and i last night met with him. as we were planning we decided we wanted to be bold with him, and tell him to lead by example, after we did. we then decided we would promise him a baptism (even though we dont have anyone who is really close) giving ourselves only 4 weeks to get someone baptized was an action of faith but we commited. we met with the bishop and told him in december there would be a baptism and after that we expect him to see we can work hard and give us referrals. he said "sounds good. i did the same thing on my mission." then the unthinkable happened, he asked me if i remembered the little girl named sawaguchi, i said yes(she is a 9 yr. part member) well her mom said she wants her to get baptized, and she does too. i think she can get baptized very soon, in fact probably in two weeks on the 12th of december. i will call her and see if we can start the lessons this saturday! we were blown away!!! we came out of our meeting with tons of ideas, the bishops full support and best of all a baptismal date!!!!!! we were needless to say extremly grateful and as soon as we left gave a prayer of gratitude to the lord. how powerful we are when we covenant with the lord. we have a lot of things that we promised the lord we would sacrifice and i think the lord knew right away from the intentions of our hearts that we fully planned on keeping up our part and immediately (the next day) we were blessed beyond measure!
the lord is ever so willing to bless our lives, he is just waiting for us to give up ours and put him to the test.with much love,
elder daniel henry lawler
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